Swine – Multidisciplinary design studio

As crowdfunding platform we always strive to search for new ideas and projects, during the next months we will going to open up the platform for design industry. In this short interview we talked with SWINE a anglo- japanese multidisciplinary design studio.

W: Tell us about the name of your studio, what is the meaning behind it?

S: Swine stands for Super Wide Interdisciplinary New Explores. My background is in architecture and Alex’s is in fine art so we wanted our studio to be very diverse. We also like the name as it presents us with a challenge of changing the perception of the word.

W: Being a multidisciplinary studio, which are the main challenges?

S: We take on a lot of projects but often we do things that we have never done before so we try to gather as much information possible by research and talking to experts. We often collaborate with great people that enhance both of our skill sets.W: What comes first – the materials or the design idea?

S: It depends on the project but mostly materials.W: Can share with us 3 advices to make a coherent design project?

S: I don’t know if coherency is the most important thing we strive for but we do try to make things simple and having a film really helps communicate.

W: From all your projects which is your favorite and why?

S: My favourite is Hair Highway as it was the most incredible experience I had finding and going to the biggest human hair market in the world. We were in Shanghai for 6 months on a residency where we were able to really focus without any distraction. We also worked with factories to produce some of the pieces where previously we made everything ourselves. It was a turning point and also an amazing time.

W: Which books and blogs do you consider valuable for a multidisciplinary studio as yours?

We look at a lot of different websites and books as our research is quite broad, but we love listening to podcasts especially when we travel.

W: On final note, what advice would you give to aspiring talent who is working to establish themselves in the industry?